"Forum of Xuzhou Museum" Phase 23: From Western Tang to Southern Siberia-Por-Bajin: Huihe Palace Ruins in the Tang Dynasty

      Introduction:

      Lecture time: 9:30 am, October 21, 2019

      Lecture location: Academic Lecture Hall of Xuzhou Museum

      Speaker: Irina Arkadevna Arzhantseva (Russia)

      This lecture is taught in English, and staff will translate.

      Speaker profile:

      Graduated from Moscow State University in 1979 and received her PhD degree in 1986, she is currently the director of the Eurasian Archaeological Center of the Institute of Ethnology and Anthropology of the Russian Academy of Sciences in Moscow, a member of the European Archaeologists Association, a member of the Russian Geographical Society, and visiting professor at the Ashmore Museum of the British Academy of Sciences, Oxford University. Her main research include early medieval history and archeology of Eurasia, archaeology of early Eurasian nomads. She has won the Hirayama Foundation Award of the "Silk Road-Road to Dialogue" project by the British Academy of Sciences, Cambridge University, England. She has published many related works.

Lecture introduction:

In southern Siberia, there is an amazing site named Por-Bajin in which both building materials and craftsmanship are Chinese style. The site is located on the small island of Lake Tellehor in the Sengelen Mountains, south of Tuva, 2,300 meters above sea level. It is speculated that the building was built during the late period of Uighur Khanate in the late 8th and early 9th centuries. After preliminary exploration at the end of the 19th century and limited excavations from 1957 to 1963, a large number of archaeological investigations were carried out between 2007 and 2008 with the assistance of the Por-Bajin Foundation.

Archaeologists have found relics with Tang Dynasty architectural features such as square building foundations, paired staircases connected to the front of the building, vertical beam structures, carved roof beam structures supporting the roof, and ceramic tiles and terracotta with carved patterns, the site shows the far-reaching spread of Tang Dynasty architecture and culture.